Digital technology has completely
changed how we discover products, engage with brands and share our
experiences with others. Amazon revolutionized customer feedback
and product reviews. Social media transformed the way people share
word-of-mouth recommendations, connecting shoppers to off-the-cuff
opinions, compelling visual content and real-life experiences from peers
and influencers they follow and admire. Sure, TV, radio and print ads are
still part of the mix but they hardly carry the same weight as they did in
years passed. This statistic speaks volumes: 92% of consumers trust
peer recommendations over branded advertising. With the advent of
social media and digital technology, brands have a powerful new tool
at their disposal that brings word-of-mouth to the masses: usergenerated
content (UGC).

For Mohan Sawhney, Innovation and Marketing professor at the Kellogg School of Management, digital transformation is about customers. Companies are no longer just competing against their industry but against the best of the best - companies like Amazon, Netflix and Airbnb.

So, you’re thinking about incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your ecommerce strategy?
More than just a novelty, UGC has become a very real and material way for retailers to build brand affinity and make the cash register ring.
If you add all your fans and followers across Facebook and Twitter, and if you are like most retailers, you’ve already got a huge fan base that is ready, willing and able to start the selling for you. So, what are you waiting for? Here are our 6 tips for driving more sales with UGC.

The explosion of User Generated Content, or UGC, has drastically shifted the way people interact with brands. And as brands turn to UGC in place of their brand produced content, there are new risks that come with the rewards. To help mitigate these potential legal issues, we have developed a guide with everything you need to know about rights management.

In May 2016, Offerpop commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate how marketers view the importance of UGC in building brand awareness and improving marketing and advertising campaigns. Forrester tested the hypothesis that marketers who inspire the creation and sharing of UGC and leverage it at each point of the customer life cycle see significant benefits.

A case study on: Case Study - Urban Outfitters
Instagram is a social channel being used more than ever, but executives are asking: "Where is the ROI?"
In this Urban Outfitters case study, learn how you can tie UGC to commerce by connecting photos to your product pages.
Discover how you can:
- Collect thousands of images about your brand that Instagrammers are already sharing
- Turn website browsers into buyers by linking user images to product pages
- Drive exceptional click-through rates from user generated content (Urban Outfitters saw 15% CTR)
Read the Urban Outfitters Case Study to see how to put these changes in action for you brand!

Instagram is a social channel being used more than ever, but executives are asking: "Where is the ROI?"
In this Urban Outfitters case study, learn how you can tie UGC to commerce by connecting photos to your product pages.
Discover how you can:
- Collect thousands of images about your brand that Instagrammers are already sharing
- Turn website browsers into buyers by linking user images to product pages
- Drive exceptional click-through rates from user generated content (Urban Outfitters saw 15% CTR)
Read the Urban Outfitters Case Study to see how to put these changes in action for you brand!

Social media, blogs and the proliferation of mobile devices have dramatically altered the corporate communications landscape. It's no longer a question of whether your PR team should get involved, but rather how to get involved and what digital media practices will best serve your goals.

Before diving in to the lucrative world of social media marketing, it is important to first examine the pros and cons of advertising and marketing on the various UGC sites. To help you succeed with your social media marketing initiatives, this TRUSTe white paper will provide with valuable tips that will help you avoid many of the common pitfalls of social media marketing.

How are you taking your 2015 digital and social marketing to the next level in 2015? We surveyed 100+ marketing professionals on the state of digital marketing trends. Download our free "State of Digital Marketing Report" to see how marketing evolved in 2014, and where you should invest your efforts in 2015.

Want to take your digital and social marketing strategy to the next level? Read this Forrester report to learn the four steps you need to take to succeed with best practices from leading brands, including SodaStream, Dr Pepper & more.

With today’s empowered consumers, brands must engage their audiences in conversation across digital platforms. Fortunately, this social engagement produces a treasure trove of audience data - even before fans have made their first purchases. Learn to unlock this valuable data in our free white paper.

Get ahead of cutting-edge digital marketing trends and learn what’s coming next. In this free report, we’ll share tips on what you can do today to accelerate your marketing strategy with customer engagement & data - before the competition catches up.

In the crowded eCommerce space, everyone’s looking for an upper hand to gain traffic and customers. We’re going to let you in on a little marketing secret that high-performing eCommerce stores know: Adding just one type of UGC to your marketing toolkit can significantly improve all your existing efforts and increase the amount of high-quality new and returning traffic for your store.

In today's world of information overload, your brand should not add to the clutter with a disjointed marketing strategy. Consumers have become extremely selective about who they trust and how they source information. Instead of seeking out brand produced content, consumers are increasingly relying on their peers to influence their buying decisions.

In our second annual marketing survey, we surveyed CMOs in The CMO Club about their use,expectations, and measurement of social media, then compared the results to the previous year's survey. In short, 2009 marked the year CMOs embraced social media marketing but struggled to tie their strategies to the bottom line. Many evaluated engagement metrics created from social media- such as the number of click-throughs to the website or number of fans or followers - instead of evaluating business metrics like revenues and conversion. In 2009, CMOs aspired to tie social to the bottom line.